Operationalizing Psychological Distance in Tourism Marketing

Gelareh Abooali, Badaruddin Mohamed

Abstract

International tourism has emerged as an important earner industry for a country’s economy. It has a significantposition in national economic development and needs a continuous evaluation. To do so, it is imperative tounderstand the dynamics of global tourists’ behaviours, perceptions and the ways that tourists evaluate theirdestinations. The present research endeavours to consider the application of psychological distance in tourismmarketing. Psychological distance has been applied in marketing research and refers to the gap or differencesthat an individual perceives between his/her home country and a foreign country. In tourism context, this gap canbe regarded as a perceived gap between tourists’ home country and the destination. The current review aims toinvestigate the application of psychological distance in tourism context. Furthermore, the presented measuringitems for psychological distance are adopted from marketing-related studies; in addition to the further measuringitems which were suggested through reviewing tourism-related literature.

To make sure that you can receive messages from us, please add the 'ccsenet.org' domain to your e-mail 'safe list'. If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox', check your 'bulk mail' or 'junk mail' folders.